Indiana University: IT Training Tips Blog

In the last year or so, I’ve become increasingly dependent on my tablet for day-to-day computing. I’m finding that I rarely need a full desktop computer, but when I’m in the office, that’s what’s most convenient. Everywhere else, however, I have my tablet in my bag and can pull it out for anything from taking notes in a meeting, to grocery shopping, to entertaining myself or friends, to writing, email, and reading. One of the design philosophies in tablet OS design deals with scrolling the content instead of scrolling the viewport. What I mean is this, if I want to scroll down a page on my tablet (or phone), I push the page upwards, I don’t drag the device’s screen down.

If you were to put your hand on your screen, grab the document/page/file you’re viewing, and try to push it down to see the content below. It simply won’t work.

Here’s a more real-world example: Imagine that you can’t move your eyes; they are permanently fixed viewing a specific location on your desk. When you grab a piece of paper on your desk and move your hand downward, the page moves down, changing your focus to an area higher up on the page. If you move the page up, your focus changes to a location further down the page.

This is how tablet scrolling is designed.

This is something that I’ve found myself having trouble with lately on my desktop computer. I browse to a web page, open an email, edit a document, and I find myself pushing my mouse wheel upwards to scroll down a page rather than rolling it downward. Apple’s Mac OS X Lion has inverted the scroll direction, making for a more uniform experience across a myriad of different devices.

I began thinking, “I wonder if I can do that with my Windows 7 machine in the office.” Turns out, it can be done, and it takes changing a registry value in several places.

Here’s how I did it:

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If you have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, you’ve probably played around with your passcode lock. If you’re not familiar with the passcode, it’s a way for you to have to “log in” to the device using a four digit PIN or a passphrase. While there is a way to set the device to let you lock and unlock it several times without using a passcode (the “I text message constantly” setting), having an unprotected device is much easier to use.

If you’re like me, you’ve used a passcode sometimes, removed it other times, forgotten it on occasion, etc. This article will detail how I’ve set up my iOS devices to not use a passcode, but for me to still be able to track them down using Find My iPhone as well as preventing them from being wiped and restored should they be stolen.

A quick note before we continue: I am not suggesting that the data on iOS devices is more secure without a passcode. In fact, the opposite is true. All this article is offering is a way to keep your device unlocked while still allowing you to track it down using Find My iPhone should it get lost or stolen.

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The CS5.5 version of Dreamweaver has significant additions and enhancements.  It will be well worth updating to the new version if you are doing any of the following:

• creating web pages to be viewed on multiple devices
• creating mobile applications for Android and/or iOS
• working with HTML 5 and CSS3

Scott Fegette, the Senior Product Manager for Dreamweaver, gives an overview of the new and improved features:

Videos about the specific features can be viewed at:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/cs-55-web-premium-feature-tour-/enhanced-html5-capabilities-in-cs55/

You can read more about the specific features at:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/whats-new-dwcs55.html

Based on the most recent statistics, the lynda.com training offerings appear to be rather popular with the IU community. And they have made another change recently that is likely to only make it easier for those who use an iOS-based device (iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad) to get to their fine work…

The lynda.com app [free!] available in the iTunes Store now works with the IU login method.

Using it is very easy:
1. Install the free lynda.com app on your iOS device.
2. Open the free lynda.com app, and push the “login” button.
3. In the login screen, flick toward the bottom, so you see the “web portal access” button, and push it.
4. In the URL field, enter the URL for the IU lynda.com training portal:
https://shib.lynda.com/Shibboleth.sso/InCommon?providerId=urn:mace:incommon:iu.edu&target=https://shib.lynda.com/InCommon
and be certain the “Remember this URL” switch is ON, then push the blue Go button.

You’ll be prompted for your CAS Authentication information (your IU username and passphrase), and once you type that in properly, you’ll be whisked away into the lynda.com training library!